


The Thing About Heels

by lately (aeggyu)



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Drunk Sex, Enemies to Lovers, Heavy Drinking, High Heels, Love/Hate, M/M, but it's all implied, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 15:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6201538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeggyu/pseuds/lately
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>featuring two idiots who sleep together and decide they don't actually hate each other. and heels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Thing About Heels

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted from aff with some edits because i'm thinking of adding a sequel lol

Sunggyu wakes up to three disastrous things: 1) the worst hangover of his life, 2) the feeling that his back is on fire, and 3) a person next to him on his bed.  
  
The worst thing about it is that the person is none other than his co-worker and alleged enemy, Nam Woohyun.  
  
That itself is enough to freak him out, so he decides the best course of action is, of course, to scream.  
  
  
—  
  
  
“Let’s go over what we remember,” Woohyun suggests once they’re in the kitchen. The yelling was enough to wake him up, headache and all; and after freaking out (yeah, him too) plus a couple of visits to the bathroom to throw their guts up—and clean themselves up because ew—they both decided strong coffee should be priority.  
  
Sunggyu groans in agreement while he serves himself a cup. He’s not a morning person. "We went to the bar three blocks away because guys from the office decided to go out drinking. Right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Then Sungyeol started talking about his new girlfriend, right?"  
  
"Right." Woohyun licks his lips, and the action is morbidly attractive—no, he did not say that; more like, infuriatingly distracting. "We were, uh, both dumped at the same time, weren't we? That's how we ended up drinking together."  
  
"And we decided to continue drinking somewhere else." Sunggyu focuses on his cup of coffee. It doesn't seem that appealing anymore. After no response from Woohyun, he looks up. "Or maybe not?"  
  
"No, you're right.“ The man nods, and Sunggyu realizes this is probably the first time Woohyun agrees with him. "Then you got so smashed I had to carry you to a taxi, and we ended up in here.”  
  
“Oh, did I?” Sunggyu replies. He doesn’t quite remember that part. “But how did we end up, you know.”  
  
“Right.”  
  
“Right.”  
  
“I have no idea.”  
  
He feels the urge to throw up the half cup of coffee he's just drunk.  
  
  
—  
  
  
At the end they settle for painkillers Sunggyu has stored somewhere in the kitchen by a miracle and a huge amount of "Let's pretend this didn't happen" agreements. Only that it's not that easy because Woohyun has to look around the disaster of a living room for his clothes, and most importantly, someone knocks on the door while Sunggyu is stuffing the other man's clothes into the washing machine because there's a couple of Very Suspicious white spots here and there.  
  
Which, by the way, he doesn't want to find out how or why they got there.  
  
At least his co-worker has the decency to get the door and sign for a package while Sunggyu struggles with the machine (he's also putting his other dirty laundry in there because why not.) From the bathroom-slash-laundry zone, he can't hear what they're talking about, but some sounds of surprise and laughter ring a warning bell on his mind.  
  
When he's back, the sight that greets him is like a nightmare come to life. Woohyun is sitting on the floor, surrounded by a familiar sight of shoes. Some of them are in boxes, some others are mindlessly thrown around, you know, adding to the mess of knocked cushions and lamps already on his living room. The shoes all differ in size, color, and style. From simple pumps to, let's admit it, ugly lobster claws, all of them lie on his living room. What's worse, when he looks at the entrance door, he sees more boxes stacked up on top of each other.  
  
He slumps against the wall until he's sliding down the floor and contemplating his life choices yet again while looking at the other man. "What the fuck is this?" he mumbles to himself before remembering that they probably belong to him now.  
  
Woohyun picks up one shiny stiletto with a hand and a blue ankle-strap platform with the other, and Sunggyu remembers why he hates him once he opens his mouth.  
  
"Say, Kim, I know we all have our quirks, but isn't this a little too much?" he asks, a smile that spells trouble high on his face.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
Of course, Woohyun doesn't. "I mean, are you getting in contact with your feminine side?"  
  
"I said shut up."  
  
"Or maybe you wanted to kidnap me to try your weird—"  
  
"That's it." Sunggyu grabs the most effective weapon at hand (six-inch pumps) and throws it at Woohyun. He misses by about a meter, but that's okay because he wanted to. (That's what he tells himself.) "Go home."  
  
With that same infuriating smirk he makes every time Sunggyu has to ask for another report because his co-workers are assholes who don't pay attention, Woohyun stands up and shakes the dust off his pants. "Sure thing, but I still need my clothes."  
  
Sunggyu sighs. "Then why do you stand up?"  
  
"I'm going to take a shower," the other man replies casually, as if he's not semi-naked on the apartment of his despised co-worker, who by the way, has shoes scattered throughout the living room.  
  
He tries, he really tries, not to think that this is the weirdest thing that's ever happened on his life. He also tries to ignore the fact that he doesn't find himself as disgusted at himself for, to put it dramatically, sleeping with the enemy. And that itself is mildly worrisome, so he decides to keep trying to feel something.  
  
Stopping himself from sighing again (he supposes that sighing two times in a row at your what, guest? One night stand? isn't probably very nice of a response, but who wants to be nice to Nam Woohyun anyway?) Sunggyu tries to stand up too. At least he needs to get something more than humiliation from this.  
  
"I'll let you use the shower—"  
  
"That's the least you can do, I mean—"  
  
"—But there's a catch." Sunggyu puts his hands on his hips to make himself look more demanding. (Hey, sometimes it works.) "You're helping me to organize the shoes and clean up the living room."  
  
The groan that Woohyun lets out is the best that Sunggyu gets from that morning. Small victories, he thinks, small victories.  
  
  
—  
  
  
Just to clarify, the shoes aren't his. He did buy them, but they were gifts for his (now ex) girlfriend. Apparently, she gave them back to discard the possibility of ever getting back together. (At least that's what he found on a small note stuck to one of the cardboard boxes.)  
  
Sunggyu tries to explain it to Woohyun, but the other man just laughs at his disgrace and flips the omelet he's frying on the pan. He decided to stay for lunch in compensation for spending almost all day stacking up shoes in the corner of an extra room. If there's something stranger than the person you don't like making an omelet at five in the afternoon on a Saturday after passing out from drunkness and sex, Sunggyu doesn't know what it is.  
  
But hey, at least he's making food.  
  
"For a man who just slept with the co-worker who steals his paperclips, you're awfully nice to me," Sunggyu points out to Woohyun's back. The back says nothing, so he keeps glaring.  
  
"So that's where my paperclips went." Sunggyu doesn't say anything in response to demonstrate he's trying to take this seriously, thank you very much, and Woohyun turns to give him a disbelieving look before going back to his cooking. "You’re just as good with words as ever, aren't you?"  
  
Sunggyu scoffs because he doesn't know what else to do. Sometimes Woohyun has this overwhelming tendency of being right, but he's obviously not going to give him the satisfaction of saying that. "You didn't answer my question."  
  
"You didn't ask any question, smartass." Woohyun replies. Sunggyu makes a ball with a napkin and throws it at him. "What? there's nothing much to it. I'm just being a decent human being."  
  
He'd like to point out there's nothing really decent about him, but just in case that he might (might!) be wrong, Sunggyu decides to be quiet. The silence after that stretches throughout their lunch because well, besides knowing that Woohyun takes his lunch from the fridge and constantly flirts with the receptionist when he's trying to talk to her, Sunggyu doesn't know what else to say to him.  
  
And no, they're not going to talk about last night.  
  
Woohyun leaves after helping him dry the dishes, unsurprisingly commenting about Sunggyu's weird fixation with feminine shoes, but the other guy settles for disregarding him. Sunggyu pushes him out of the door with a little less force than he intends to because even if he doesn't want to admit it, the younger man fed him and didn't behave as bad as he thought he would.  
  
As Woohyun puts on his shoes and jacket, Sunggyu thinks about what he's supposed to say now. He catches himself before saying something stupid because what do you say in these types of occasions? "See you around"? "Talk to you later"? They don't even talk for other than petty arguments. (And no, today's conversations definitely don't count.) So he just shrugs and closes the door on the other's face.  
  
  
—  
  
  
The following weeks are awkward between them, to say the least. Sunggyu tries to pretend the other man doesn't take his food from the refrigerator on their break room and that the paperclips aren't that important (Woohyun's desk is already messy, who's going to notice anyway?) The truth is that he doesn't see Woohyun much. But hey, at least the other has stopped wandering around his cubicle and actually letting him work. He does, however, hear from Sungjong—one of the relatively new interns—that Woohyun is dating someone from the department of sales.  
  
That's cool, he tells himself as he types the report that has taken him more time than it should, thanks to his musings. It means he moved on pretty quickly, and that's perfectly normal. Sunggyu is not hung up over what happened (because with the days, clarity about the matter has come to him and oh, does he remember everything that happened.)  
  
He really isn't.  
  
Shaking his head, he turns to the screen, just to find that he's been pressing the space bar for the last ten minutes, and also that he's barely done with half of it. Oh, and today is the deadline.  
  
  
—  
  
  
"How are the heels?" Woohyun asks, leaning on the counter at the break room and scaring Sunggyu out of his body.  
  
He turns from the Holy Refrigerator (Sungyeol named it) to glare at the man who appeared so unexpectedly. "Hey, don't do that."  
  
Unfortunately, that only fuels Woohyun's smirk at his reaction. "Sorry. Didn't know you were weak enough to die from heart attacks. Figures, with the age and all."  
  
Sunggyu eyes the food on the fridge. The leftovers from the take-out he brought are nowhere to be seen. He glances at the man who's now serving himself a cup of coffee, and then turns back to the food. It's obviously Woohyun's fault. It's always his, to be honest. What catches his attention this time, though, is the small container with the other man's name written on top of it, pushed in the far corner among Myungsoo's black noodles and Sungjong's sandwich.  
  
"I'm pretty healthy, for your information," he replies, grabbing the container without much thought.  
  
Woohyun hums in response. "And you drink like the world's going to end."  
  
"I don't see how a thing relates to the other,"—he sends a poignant look at the man, opening the container—"but it's not like you're much better yourself."  
  
And then something weird happens. Woohyun laughs, but it's not the same bitter laugh Sunggyu's always heard. It's still mocking, but leaning a bit more towards the playful side. "Sure, because I stumble into random trashcans on the way back home."  
  
Oh, that. Yeah, after leaving the bar, reaching the apartment was such a trek that night.  
  
"W-well," he starts, closing the fridge's door with a kick, "you knocked down my lamp. I had to change the light bulb. I'm expecting a direct deposit for that."  
  
He moves to heat up the food, hoping the container is microwave safe. That way, he can distract himself and have his back turned without seeming rude. Then, he realizes he just thought being rude towards Woohyun, of all people, is bad. What's wrong with him?  
  
"Hey, you don't have the right to talk!" Woohyun exclaims. "You totally knocked your head against the..." he stops himself just in time for Sunggyu to realize what he meant to say.  
  
The thing is that, now that he's not fighting the urge to throw his guts up and the strong headache that comes with a hangover, memories are painfully clear. Against the wall, Woohyun was about to say, because he did hit the back of his head when the man pushed him between, well, leaving a mark on a really soft spot on his neck Sunggyu didn't know he possesed.  
  
The seconds that follow are of awkward silence, and Sunggyu doesn't want to, he really doesn't, but he steals a glance at the cringing figure behind him. If he's not mistaken, Woohyun's (possible?) blush is so deep it reaches his ears. In all honesty, it's somewhat cute.  
  
Wait.  
  
No.  
  
The series of beeps from the microwave that announce the food is ready pull them out of their thoughts. Sunggyu doesn't know why, but he feels the need to say something.  
  
"Uh, I haven't moved the shoes from the room," he mumbles, mixing the food around. He has no idea of what it is, but it looks appealing, and apparently, Woohyun hasn't noticed. "I'm not really sure, but I feel like I need to talk to my ex-girlfriend before doing anything."  
  
He has no idea why he's telling Woohyun this, but at least that's better than the silence. The other man makes a sound that Sunggyu is not sure how to describe. "That's… cool, I guess," he says, turning to face him. If he sees the food, he says nothing about it. "I started seeing someone."  
  
"Yeah, I heard."  
  
"Oh, well. I guess gossip travels pretty fast, huh?" He gives Sunggyu a thin smile, and it's not the same blatantly forced curve of lips he shows him in front of their other co-workers, but it's not sincere either. "Anyway, I think my break's over, and the supervisor is always looking for excuses to reprimand me so…"  
  
Sunggyu brings a piece of food to his mouth to stop himself from saying "See you around" one more time (being nice to Woohyun is just as weird as Woohyun being nice to him.) Woohyun's smile fades a bit as he makes his way out of the room, lukewarm coffee in his hands—Sunggyu, as distracted as he is, did notice the coffee wasn't hot anymore before the other man appeared—and hurried steps towards his cubicle.  
  
Before shoving all the food down his throat and heading to his own cubicle—his break is probably over too—the man thinks of how nice whatever he's eating actually is, and even more importantly, if Woohyun brings such good lunch to the office, why does he bother to take Sunggyu's leftovers?  
  
  
—  
  
  
Since it's been a little bit over a month and he figures it would be kind of, eh, reasonable to give a call to his ex-girlfriend to talk over what happened (the whole "waves of heels flooding my house" thing, because they did talk about the break-up) Sunggyu invites her for lunch.  
  
Hyerim, who was his girlfriend from junior (and her freshmen) year in College until now, sits down in front of him at the restaurant where they used to go on dates at the beginning of their relationship. She's slightly smaller than him, pretty, and overall feminine. Her reaction when Sunggyu called wasn't exactly bad. On the opposite. She sounded happy to see him.  
  
"So did you get the shoes?" She asks once she's settled, coat hung on the back of her seat and a leather messenger bag on the chair next to her. Sunggyu raises an eyebrow.  
  
"No 'Hi, oppa. How you've been? I've been doing wonderful without you'?" He crosses his arms. "And why do everyone ask about the shoes first?"  
  
"Oppa, it's obvious I've been doing wonderful and you're still alive."  
  
"Nice to know you worry about me."  
  
"I would've sent a text if I were worried about you." The waiter brings them water and Sunggyu busies himself playing with the straw. "But what do you mean by 'everyone'? Haven't you gotten rid of them?"  
  
"Ah, that." He glances at her. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't want them anymore."  
  
"They're pretty, but I needed more space for other things," she says, smiling briefly at the waiter comes to take their orders.  
  
"Still, don't you want to keep at least a couple of pairs?"  
  
"Believe me, I did." She points at something on her menu and the waiter nods. Sunggyu decides to order the same, even though he has no idea of what it was. When he's gone, Hyerim turns back to him. "I just thought it's time to move on, you know? And it's kind of hard to do it with a bunch of boxes with presents you gave to me."  
  
"I understand," Sunggyu nods. "It's perfectly fine, I mean. I just don't know what to do with so many shoes."  
  
"I know, right? It took me hours to get them sent."  
  
Sunggyu laughs, and surprisingly, the laughter flows out of him without complications. "Why did you send them to me anyway? You could've sold them."  
  
"Ah, yes. Making profit with oppa's gifts." She laughs too. "No, I'm not like that. I wasn't even sure if you'd want them. You could give them to your noona. How's she anyway?"  
  
"I haven't really talked to her, to be honest. But I'm sure she's fine," he replies, shrugging. "They're not her size anyway."  
  
She hums. "Then, to your next girlfriend? You need to find someone who likes heels, though." Her phone, placed next to her on the table, vibrates with a new message, and she excuses herself. While texting a reply, she adds, "And also someone who doesn't mind the amount."  
  
"Yeah, how did you let me spend all my money on so many shoes anyway?" Sunggyu leans back, crossing his arms behind his head. He would be lying if he daid he didn't miss talking to Hyerim. "It took us hours to get them into the spare room."  
  
She looks up from her phone for a brief moment, before looking back down. "'Us'? Are you seeing someone?"  
  
"Nah, it was just me and—" He's able to catch his tongue before saying Woohyun's name. He's talked about the other man before, and nothing he's said is been pleasant. How would Hyerim react if she knew he had the man cooking lunch for him and hanging out at his apartment? Or even worse, that he wasn't just hanging out the night before that?  
  
"Just you and…?" Hyerim finishes her text and puts her phone down. The waiter comes with their orders and leaves after telling them to ask for anything they need.  
  
Sunggyu considers his options. He could tell her it was just a co-worker who stayed for the night because they were drunk and that wouldn't be a lie, but then again, isn't that why he decided to meet with her, to talk? Hyerim has known him for years. She wouldn't be that judgmental with him, would she?  
  
Still, it's probably not the best lunch conversation, so he decides to switch the topic.  
  
"You're gonna laugh at me," he says, feeling as nervous as he's never felt in front of her. "Let's talk about it later. Now tell me, are _you_ seeing someone?"  
  
That distracts her. "How did you know?" she asks. At the same time, her phone goes off. Totally not obvious. "Yeah, I mean. We're just co-workers, and he's older than you, but he's nice. And he's from Busan, like me!"  
  
  
—  
  
  
"Wait, is this the same Woohyun who steals the lunch I packed for you?" Hyerim asks. He's offered to drive her home so now they're at his car. Yes, he does have a car; he just decides not to use it when he goes out drinking.  
  
"Now he steals the leftovers I take to work."  
  
"Are you munching on leftovers now?" She punches him weakly on the arm. "That's not healthy."  
  
"I'm not 'munching on them' because Woohyun eats them all!" he replies. "Did you miss the point?"  
  
"Well no." Hyerim sends him a look. "So now what?"  
  
"What do you mean what?"  
  
"You know, about you two."  
  
"Well there's nothing. He has a new girlfriend now." Hyerim gives him the look. "Also, we still hate each other."  
  
"Sure. Because you cook lunch for your enemy," she replies and seriously, Sunggyu had no idea she had that sarcasm in her. Is it a side effect of spending time with him?  
  
Still, what unsettles him is that Hyerim doesn't look, well, unsettled. "Are you surprised?"  
  
"A little bit,"—Hyerim nods—"but I can see it happening. Don't look at me like that, oppa."  
  
Sunggyu raises his eyebrows. "What do you mean you can see it happening? It's just that we were drunk, and that's it."  
  
"No, but listen. It makes sense." Then, widening her eyes, she adds, "Oh my god, it does make sense! That's why you guys fight so much! Simple logic."  
  
He opens his mouth, closes it, and then opens it back again. Aware he's starting to look like a fish, Sunggyu shakes his head. "That's not—What do you mean? Woohyun and I dislike each other."  
  
"Ooh, so now we're going from 'hate' to 'dislike'?" She grins, and Sunggyu realizes he has a thing for catlike smiles. "I call that progress."  
  
"I give up," he says, parking the car. "We're here, little one."  
  
He turns the engine off and unlocks the car, but Hyerim stays sitting. "In all honesty oppa, don't you think it'd be nice to give it a try?"  
  
"'Give it a try'? I don't even know what he thinks of me," he blurts out before realizing he might or might not have implied he's interested. Much to his dismay, Hyerim catches it, judging by the smile she gives him. However, he has no opportunity to say anything else because her phone starts ringing from her lap.  
  
She answers, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the door. The frills of her skirt swing with the autumn wind as she exits the car and turns to grab her bag. Separating the phone from her ear, she turns to him.  
  
"If you ever need something oppa, don't forget to call me. And please, text me if you get that solved," she says, waving him goodbye, to later mumble on the phone, "no, not you, my other oppa. Yes, the one with the office crush."  
  
Sunggyu can't help but smile at the lightness with which she took all this situation and wave back as she closes the car door. Things like this make him think that it's Hyerim's personality that allowed them to have such a smooth break up and keep a light relationship between them. Thinking of how mature the girl is, he turns on the engine. His smile fades, however, once her words sink in.  
  
  
—  
  
  
It's actually three am and Sunggyu finds himself pacing in the kitchen. Normally, he would use any occasion where he's not working to take naps or read books, but for some strange reason, he can't fall asleep tonight.  
  
Actually no, it's not some strange reason. Hyerim's words from that afternoon are still spinning in his head, twisting and turning until they become confusing, and then they make so much sense he can't help but feel like she's right and he should submit to Woohyun's will. But actually, that sounds ridiculous in every way, so he keeps pacing and shaking his head.  
  
The worst part is that when he tries to conjure some image to comfort himself—like, for example, the curve of Hyerim's waist, the swell of the breasts from the noona he used to date in high school—somehow he ends up thinking back of Woohyun's laughter turning into a string of pants after Sunggyu decided to run his fingers through his back in a way of distraction from the embarrassment from hitting his head against the wall. Or how he thought the way he furrowed his nose in concentration while unbuttoning his shirt was strangely cute. Or—  
  
Fuck.  
  
He wants to bang his head against a wall to shoo those thoughts away. Which he does, except it's not exactly a good idea because it hurts and he's an idiot, so he decides to go to a place where is less plausible he hurts himself while suffering from insomnia. Like the bed.  
  
He plops himself in between his mess of blankets and cushions, sighing in misery. Then, he realizes the thing about the heels hasn't been resolved either, and falls deeper into disgrace.  
  
  
—  
  
  
"Your eye bags look horrible." Who knows why, but he decides that's the most intelligent way to start a conversation with Woohyun.  
  
(Fun fact: It's not.)  
  
Said male breathes out through his nose and leans on the cubicle wall. "You don't look so good yourself."  
  
Sunggyu would say something snarky, but he's too tired even for that. "I've spent all night working," he lies, shrugging, "unlike you, it seems."  
  
"Working on what, organizing your shoes?" Woohyun tilts his hips just slightly enough for Sunggyu to glance down.  
  
"Why is it always the shoes?" he says, exasperated. It's not a good idea to make him mad; he starts saying hurtful things. "None of your business, anyway." And next thing you know, he's blurting something bad. "Besides, aren't you busy hung up over another ex-girlfriend? Go sulk on someone else's cubicle."  
  
And there it is.  
  
The scoff he anticipates. However, he doesn't quite expect the dejected look on Woohyun's eyes as he grips the plastic door until his knuckles turn white. "And people wonder why I call you asshole, Kim."  
  
And after that, he leaves Sunggyu sitting in front of his desk, more confused than ever (and seriously considering putting a zipper on his mouth.)  
  
  
—  
  
  
More days of awkward avoidance and Sunggyu pondering if he likes Woohyun like Hyerim suggested pass by. On a Friday, almost a month and a half after that drunken encounter, the guys from the office decide to go out drinking again, partially to celebrate a bonus the Seoul branch has received, mostly because Woohyun is still depressed because of his break up. At least that's what everyone jokes about, and Sunggyu is torn between hoping it's true and it's not his fault, and wishing it's not; that would mean he's the only one worried about them. But what are they anyway?  
  
So, because Sunggyu's decision-making skills suck, he finds himself unable to control his competitiveness after a random someone from Human Resources proposes a drinking game and their supervisor announces he's sponsoring because he's drunk and generous like that. Woohyun joins, too—actually, their whole department does—and that turns up to be a very bad idea. (Or very good, if you consider that Woohyun and him jacking each other off in the restrooms while everyone else is too drunk to notice falls on the category of good ideas. Sunggyu can't really decide.)  
  
Obviously, they end up with unfinished business because random people keep entering the stalls to throw up and that's just rude (even if they don't see them) so they decide to call a taxi.  
  
They kiss all the way to Sunggyu's apartment.  
  
This time, though, he's conscious enough through the whole ordeal. His judgment may be more than flawed, but that's better than passing out on Woohyun's chest. But it's precisely that his judgment isn't the best that leads him to decide it's a good idea to take a pair of stilettos and put them on while still on his underwear. He's not so drunk he can't put them on, but he's obviouly too drunk to take them off.  
  
"How do you even walk with these on?" he exaggerates his disbelieving tone as he tries to take a step. His legs quiver uncomfortably and the heels are most definitely not his size. From the bed, in a state of undress similar to his, Woohyun is too busy cracking up to pay attention to him.  
  
"Your thighs look great on those, by the way," he says, still shaking in silent laughter. "Hairy legs and all."  
  
He looks down—nearly falling in the process—and finds the bright red against his pale, hairy lags very, very insulting. That makes him consider this as probably the most stupid thing he's ever done in his life—right next to "sleeping with Woohyun," which reminds him…  
  
"Hey, we shouldn't be doing this."  
  
Woohyun's laughter dies. "We shouldn't?"  
  
Sunggyu shakes his head, which proves to be a bad decision because he's walking on those illegal stilts and that leads to tripping over his own feet. Luckily, he falls right next to Woohyun on the bed, face down. "Nope."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because," he starts, but honestly, sleep is like, pulling him towards it. Or something. He doesn't know, but sleeping sounds like a better idea than having this discussion—and his eyelids are starting to close. "Just because."  
  
"But I'm still hard!" he hears Woohyun protest, but it sounds cloudy, like instead of next to him, he's somewhere far where he can't reach.  
  
"Help,"—he yawns—"yourself."  
  
Sunggyu feels the bed bounce lightly and somewhere in his mind, he registers the other man has stood up. It doesn't last too long before he's back, though, and apparently he's just turned off the lights.  
  
Regaining a bit of consciousness, he manages to get inside the covers and somehow pull Woohyun along with him without killing them both in the process. It's nothing special, really, just that in his underwear and at this time of the year, the other man will freeze to death. Really, it's just that he doesn't want Woohyun to go around taking days off because he's sick.  
  
He's not entirely sure, but Sunggyu thinks he hears something like a chuckle and a good night wish before falling asleep. It's probably the alcohol talking anyway.  
  
  
—  
  
  
Woohyun stays long enough for breakfast (he makes star-shaped pancakes with chocolate chips) and lunch (they order pizza.) They also sit down to watch a foreign movie with subtitles in overwhelming silence.  
  
Sunday is not better. Sunggyu spends the day eating the leftovers and sitting on the same spot, watching the sequel of the movie they were watching yesterday, and trying to pretend Woohyun's presence didn't affect him as much.  
  
  
—  
  
  
The thing about heels that always attracted him is how feminine they look. It doesn't matter the shape, size, or color; he's always loved the way they make girls look a bit more sophisticated, or sensual. He thought it'd be fine if he bought them for his past girlfriends—Hyerim wasn't the first one to receive those kinds of presents, but she was the first to give them back. After all, who would want something so pretty?  
  
But obsessing over a concept won't do him any good, and he realizes that as he stares at the pair of stilettos he's putting back with the other shoes. They're simple objects if he wants to look at them that way; no stigmas assigned to them, no stereotypes. That's, of course, a pretty liberal way to think about it, but what else can he do if not accept it? To save himself from a spiral of denial and self-hate, that is.  
  
Now, a part of him says, the only thing to do is look for a correct way to fill the voids those concepts left. That part may or may not be the same that tells him Hyerim is right; that's not a bad idea to stop fighting with Woohyun over mundane things like reports or photocopies or stolen lunches; that the idea of his own legs wrapped around the small of Woohyun's naked back and heels making a constant "clank-clank" with every movement is not disgusting at all (quite the opposite, actually.)  
  
That part is also the one that tells him he might be falling for Woohyun, and that has nothing to do with drunken misadventures or heels and everything with the effort he puts into leaving the nice lunch for him and eating the leftovers instead of Sunggyu.  
  
Oh no, he has it bad.  
  
  
—  
  
  
It actually takes him a couple of weeks to talk to Woohyun again. Although not a lot of that is his fault, because the man was in a business trip to Busan (thanks, audits.) But now that he's back, there's no way to avoid the topic without combusting on his own cube. That would give the company a bad reputation.  
  
He's walking up to Woohyun's cubicle before realizing he doesn't have a plan set. Unfortunately (or not) the man is gone when he reaches the place. _Free paperclips, here we go_. His curiosity wins despite himself, so he adventures into the small space. Just as he's lifting a pile of coffee-stained papers on Woohyun's desk, someone clearing his throat makes him look up.  
  
Woohyun looks anything but happy to see him there.  
  
"Looking for something, Kim?" he asks, crossing one arm over his chest in an action that's more defensive than anything else. He's holding a cup of steaming coffee with the other hand.  
  
Sunggyu swallows his embarrassment and tries to think of an excuse. "I just wanted to borrow your stapler."  
  
"You have your own."  
  
"Sungyeol glued the staples together." Which isn't entirely false. He did do it, just... a couple of moths ago.  
  
Woohyun nods solemnly. He's gone through that too. He takes the stapler from under a bunch of papers and other things Sunggyu doesn't want to know (to think that Woohyun's desk is cleaner than his own only makes him feel bad about himself) and hands it in with a little too unnecessary force. "If that's all…"  
  
Sunggyu recognizes when he's not welcomed, okay, but he still has to get what he came for. "I actually wanted to talk to you," he says, staring at the stapler on his hand, and it sounds less shaky than he thought it would. "So... After work?"  
  
He shouldn't find the least bit of delight on Woohyun's confused expression, but he does. Oh, well.  
  
"Sure," he says, less on-guard. "After work."  
  
  
—  
  
  
Meeting Woohyun after they're done is, like everything else in these past weeks, a bad idea. (Or a good one, if he looks at it that way.)  
  
They end up having dinner at a nice restaurant and between the grilled meat and bottles of soju, Woohyun turns out to be a great conversationalist when he's not being an annoying know-it-all. Except that after a while, they end up kissing a lot and not talking at all.  
  
The worst part about it is that it's not even six pm.  
  
"So, is this a date?" Sunggyu has the audacity to ask once they've reached his apartment door. He's not drunk this time, just tipsy enough not to care about what everyone else in the world (but Woohyun) thinks.  
  
"Do you want it to be?" Woohyun asks, and he's probably not in his right mind either because there's no way he's sounding so… non-hostile?  
  
"Honestly, no." Then, at the crestfallen expression the other man puts on, he hurries to add, "I mean, it's just that I have no idea what's going on with us and, uh, we're never exactly sober when we're together."  
  
"Yeah, you kind of have a point there." Woohyun leans on the front door. "Are you disgusted?"  
  
Sunggyu lets his hands drop from their place (casually clutching the border of Woohyun's jacket, if you're wondering.) "Not exactly," he replies, and that's as honest as he's been with him (and himself) for the past weeks.  
  
"Exactly?"  
  
"Well, I mean—I'm just so confused about this—Or myself. Maybe." (And about the fact that he doesn't find confiding this kind of information to the guy who steals his lunch all that difficult too, but who needs to know about that?)  
  
Woohyun stays quiet for a few moments, but then he's close, he's so close Sunggyu can see the moles on his neck in high definition (they actually form a triangle) before he grasps Sunggyu's sleeves—not quite touching his hands, but the action still takes Sunggyu's breath away.  
  
"Uhm," Woohyun starts, "I've been thinking about it and I—I think this is not right or wrong. There's no black or white. And—and it doesn't make you a good or a bad person. Whatever you decide."  
  
Wait.  
  
_Wait._  
  
"Have you been thinking about it?" Sunggyu repeats.  
  
"Was that all you got?"  
  
"No but how long? Since when? Has this been going on even before we slept together? Did you like me before? Do you like me?" Sunggyu widens his eyes in realization. "You like m—"  
  
Woohyun's lips are plump and soft, slightly bitter, but they mostly taste like grilled pork and a tint of something intoxicating that has nothing to do with alcohol. That's the first thing Sunggyu thinks when the other man closes the space between them and effectively shuts him up. They've kissed before—today, even, right after they left the restaurant—but this time is different.  
  
There's this excitement blooming from the depths of his stomach when Woohyun takes his bottom lip between his teeth, or from behind his ribs or somewhere poetic over there, like climbing up his spinal chord, Sunggyu has no idea, but it's nice. He wouldn't mind more of this.  
  
"Should we," Woohyun says when he breaks off from him, and Sunggyu has to find it in himself to unclasp his hands from the man's jacket again (how did they get there, he has no idea) "should we start with a more inocent route, maybe?"  
  
"You don't say that right after kissing someone like that," Sunggyu laughs, although it sounds more like a pant than anything else.  
  
"Says who?"  
  
"Me."  
  
"Well,"—a sigh breaks through Woohyun's lips and really, Sunggyu's never seen him so fidgety before—"I'm saying that we could you know, just hang out on the weekends. Without going out drinking or anything like that. Just order pizza and watch movies and…" he trails off. Then, as if that can help in some way, "I have a Netflix account."  
  
Even though he knows he should be paying attention to his words, Sunggyu focuses on the way the other plays with his fingers while speaking, like he's a nervous and sweaty teenager asking for a date. He can't help but think it's sort of cute.  
  
"So?" Woohyun's voice takes him out of his musings.  
  
"What? Ah, yeah. Movies. Your pick," he mutters automatically, hoping that's what he was asked. "Uhm, your place or mine?"  
  
Woohyun looks dumb and surprised, and he shouldn't be giggling at his expression. (But he kind of does because why not?) "O-oh. Well, my place?" he suggests. "You haven't actually been there, I think."  
  
"Right."  
  
"Right."  
  
"When?"  
  
Woohyun scratches his cheek. "This weekend? You're not busy on Saturday, are you?"  
  
This Saturday was the day he was going to take the shoes to a thrift store, but that can wait. Actually, everything can. "I'm not," he replies, disregarding that strange flirting tone that slips from between the cracks of his voice.  
  
"Then it's set," and Woohyun smiles, oh how sincerely he smiles, that Sunggyu can't help but mirror him. "I… guess I'll be going then. See you at the office."  
  
"Sure," Sunggyu pushes himself out of the way for Woohyun to leave, but something's missing. "Uh, see you around!"  
  
Woohyun waves him good-bye as he steps into the elevator at the end of the hallway and Sunggyu waves back, opening his apartment's door. After entering, he closes the door and slides down until his butt is hitting the cold tiles of the floor.

Small victories, small victories.  
  
  
—  
   
  
  
(extra)  
  
"So what happened to the heels?" Woohyun asks from his chest. They're lying on the couch at Woohyun's apartment, marathoning a sit-com, and they're on ad's break.  
  
"Again with the heels?" Sunggyu muses aloud, paying more attention to his texts with Hyerim than the man currently calling for his attention. Over the days, he's learned Woohyun can be clingy, and he puts his heart into it. And the worst part is that Sunggyu doesn't mind that much. "I haven't gotten rid of them."  
  
Woohyun hums. "I've been thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea if we kept at least a pair."  
  
"W-what?" he looks up from the phone to find the younger man smiling at him. His smile turns anything but innocent.  
  
"You look like you've been thinking about it too."  
  
"What?" Yeah. "No!" Maybe.  
  
"Ooh,"—he climbs up to straddle Sunggyu's chest—"maybe we should keep them all."  
  
"Pervert!"  
  
"You need to shave your legs, though." Woohyun leans forward, putting pressure in all the right places. "I'm pretty sure they'd look amazing then."  
  
"That's it!" he exclaims, pushing Woohyun off him. The man falls unceremoniously on the carpet. "Stay there."  
  
"But Sunggyu—"  
  
"Shh, the show's starting."  
  
"Ok so then hear me out," Woohyun adopts a serious expression and says, "what if _I_ shave my legs?"


End file.
